Tales from the rails

The Grand Tour: The Trip To America

Rhys was getting a call on the phone on the evening when the departed from India. It from his mother, and he answered the call. "Hey Rhys, how's the trip been since I last check in with you?" "It's been good mom, how have things been for you at home?" "They're good, the chocolate factory is engines are doing their jobs swimmingly and making it easier for us, not having to rent out dirtier engines." "Hey! I will have you know that I am a good and clean shunter!" Called a voice, annoyed by the insult. "Mom, who's that?" Rhys asked. "Well... go to the engines first and then I'll show you." She said. Rhys did as his mother told him and then asked her again, "Well, who was that?" "Wait, I can't see Dan and Thomas. Face them." He did so. "Rhys, what's going on?" Asked Thomas. "Hey guys!" Yelled Rhys through the phone, excited to see his brother and best friend again. "Rhys!" They said excitedly as smiles grew on their faces. "How are things out on the ocean? Feeling like pirates yet?" Rhys asked jokingly. "They're going wonderfully! And maybe we have become pirates. Dunno yet." Said Thomas cheekily. "Argh me hearty!" Chuckled Dan, winking. The three laughed, the tender engines staring in silence. "So how are things at home?" Asked Dan. "Oh, they're fine. But things could be better, you know that woman that owns the quarry? Her husband is the stand in controller. He's a mean sort, always yelling at us for doing 'Everything wrong,' honestly, he's just not good for the railway." "You should have contacted Mr. Conductor! He would have ran your railway smoother than the rails under your wheels!" Commented Thomas. "Don't worry Rhys, once we're done with America, we're coming back home, so don't worry." Said Dan reassuringly, growing a bit tired. Rhys yawned. "Well, I got a busy day tomorrow so I have to turn in, apparently it's an hour or too ahead of you guys over here. So goodnight guys!" "Goodnight Rhys!" Dan and Thomas said as the phone turned back to Rhys' mom. "Alright Rhys, I'm going to go home now, goodnight everyone!" "Bye mom!" "Bye Rhys' mom!" Yelled all the engines. The engines went to bed happily after Rhys went back to his room. He too went to sleep, though was woken up by Emma. "What time is it?" Asked Rhys, "It's only 9:08, come on, I just found something cool!" She whispered, pulling him out of bed. They went onto the deck where them engines were and walked over to the front of the ship. The two walked over to the tip of the ship. "Get ready." Emma said, and turned into a bat, and then she picked up Rhys! "Woah!" He yelled as his feet left the ground! She flew away from the boat and upwards, and Rhys got closer to the clouds and then she said, "look at the ship, it's so tiny from here!" Rhys was shaking furiously, terrified of the fall. But he was able to calm down a little and noticed the beauty of the ship and the ocean from so high up. "Wow, it is nice." Rhys said, and then the two went back down again. They landed back on the deck and held hands as they walked back to the room. "Thanks for showing me that tonight." Said Rhys as he kissed Emma on the forehead. "Ah, I should do it more to be honest." Emma smiled as the two cuddled and went to bed.

The next morning, Rhys woke up, alone and questioning where Emma and her parents were. Suddenly he heard yelling from down the hall. "You do this every time Christina!" Boomed Sir William V as Rhys poked his head out into the hallway. "So what?! I don't care, piss off!" She yelled back at him. The two argued as DD's family, with DD no where to be seen, poked their heads out and hid in their room. "Oh lord." Said Rhys as he went to go get changed into something more casual. After he did, he went to go eat breakfast and to find his friends. After eating, he went searching the ship, but stumbled upon a new area of the ship and found... "A WATER PARK?!?" He yelled excitedly as he ran around to find someone else to tell. He searched the whole ship, and knocked on the doors where he might find his friends. He knocked on DD's door. "Hello?" Asked Seth. "Hey Seth, is DD in there?" "Uh, no, we thought he was with you." Seth said. "Oh, well guess what I found!" "What?" "A water park! It's on the ship! We got to hang out on it! Get your family ready and get going as soon as you can!" "That's awesome! I will!" Seth said as he shut the door and told his parents. Rhys then went to his and Emma's room. He opened the door with a keycard and then looked around. "Oh, hullo Rhys! Have you seen Emma?" Asked her father. "Oh, no, I haven't, I was going to ask you that." "I see, well then, it seems as though you have news, correct?" Asked her mother. "Yes, there's a water park on the ship, you should totally come with us!" "Oh, that sounds fun, don't you agree honey?" Said Emma's Mother. "I agree, we must get changed at once and then we will go, can you find our daughter Rhys?" "I'll try sir." He promised as he left the room. He then went to Joe's room, knocked on the door, and heard nothing. He then went over to Topham's room. He knocked on the door and Sir Stevenson Topham Hatt opened the door. "Ah, Rhys! Welcome my boy, what brings you here?" He welcomed. "Hello Sir, have you seen my friends at all? Besides your children of course." "Ah, yes, I'm sorry but I don't know where all five of them have gone off to. Why are you looking for them?" "I found a water park on the ship, I'm surprised I missed it!" Rhys exclaimed excitedly. "Splendid, I shall get the Misses and meet you down there, may they are all down there, perhaps waiting for you!" Rhys said goodbye and Topham shut the door. Then he went to Mia's room, knocked on the door, and waited. And waited. Then he knocked again. He waited some more. And then he tried to text his friends. They weren't responding to his texts, so he kept searching the ship. Dan was dozing off in the sun as he was suddenly started by Rhys waking him up. "Dan!" "AHHH!" The others started laughing at him and Dan looked embarrassed. "What do you need Rhys?" Asked Dan, not wanting to face the other engines. "Have you seen our friends?" "No, I've been napping all day, sorry." "They were here a little earlier, something about a water park? I dunno." Said Thomas, remember the crew coming to say hi. Rhys thanked Thomas and left for the water park. "They could have told me!" He muttered as he got this changed. He went to the water park and went to find his friends.

The slides were massive! They were all different in every good way! They were all clean and looked brand new! Rhys looked in amazement at the stunning beauty of the water park, and he went to find where everyone else was and he was ecstatic to see his friends all waiting for him on some benches. There were his friends, waving him to come over. "Hey! Rhys! We're 've you been?" Emma called out. "Where have I been? I've been everywhere looking for you guys!" He yelled back as he walked over quickly. Rhys set his stuff down, and he put on a pair of shades, trying to, "Look Good for His Lady." He had of course his shades on and a pair of Emerald Green swimming trunks. Emma had on a Purple One piece, and she had her normally flowing black hair tied into a ponytail. DD himself had a pair of Black trunks on with a pair of Blue goggles, and Mia was in a Purple Two piece and she had her hair tied up in a ponytail like Emma. The four went around and looked at all the slides, there were slides that went indoors and spat back out, drops that led straight down into the pools, and one that caught their eyes. "Come try the boiling water slide, groups of 4 only." Rhys read aloud to the group. "I say we do it." Said Mia. "I agree." Said Emma. "I suppose it won't hurt." Added Rhys. "I'm in." DD finished. The four went up the slide stairs, and it was empty besides the worker that would let them slide down. "You sure you wanna do this?" Asked the woman. "It gets as hot as a hot tub in there, then it spits you out into one." She warned the group, and the four looked at each other. Rhys then looked at her and said, "We're ready." The woman rolled her eyes as she gave them a raft. "And go!" She said as she pushed the raft and sent them down the slide. Now it's important to note the location of everyone on the raft. Rhys was facing the direction they came from, Emma on his right, Mia on his left, and DD facing him. Everyone was laughing until the slide went dark. Then DD shrieked as he was flew off the raft and slowed! When there was light again, everyone was surprised to see DD gaining on them! "HOW DID YOU FALL OFF?!" They screamed. "I DON'T KNOW HOW ALL I KNOW IS THE WATER BURNS!" He yelled back. There was nothing they could do besides wait for them to be dumped into the hot tub. As they were spat out into the hot tub, the raft, without any of them, floated away to a worker. Meanwhile they were all sent into a hot tub, and DD sighed in relief as he breathed. "I thought it was 'burning hot'? Shouldn't you be trying to be getting out of here as soon as possible?" Asked Rhys. "Well that's the thing, there wasn't enough water, so I was just sliding belly first and getting a nasty rash, see!" He said as he pointed to his stomach. "Oooooh!" The others groaned as they looked at him. The four then began laughing at how silly the slide was. "Honestly, I was expecting something a little more dramatic or scary with how that lady was talking!" Laughed Emma. "I know! But here we are!" Mia added. The four relaxed as they watched the sun set in the distance. "Man, this is awesome." Said Rhys.